1 Corinthians 7:1-7; 29-31
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Scripture Reading
(1
Corinthians 7:1-7) Now concerning the matters about which you
wrote: "It is well for a man not to touch a woman." {2}
But because of cases of sexual immorality, each man should have
his own wife and each woman her own husband. {3} The husband
should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife
to her husband. {4} For the wife does not have authority over her
own body, but the husband does; likewise the husband does not have
authority over his own body, but the wife does. {5} Do not deprive
one another except perhaps by agreement for a set time, to devote
yourselves to prayer, and then come together again, so that Satan
may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. {6} This I
say by way of concession, not of command. {7} I wish that all were
as I myself am. But each has a particular gift from God, one
having one kind and another a different kind. . . .
(1
Corinthians 7:29-31) I mean, brothers and sisters, the appointed
time has grown short; from now on, let even those who have wives
be as though they had none, 30 and those who mourn as though they
were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not
rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no possessions, 31
and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings
with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.
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SERMON
Suppose a friend gave you a letter to read and told you it was
important because it was full of spiritual wisdom. Suppose the letter
was written by me to my friend Billy O'Quinn. Suppose in the middle of
the letter you read the sentence, "In answer to your question, we
go up at night." What would that mean to you? Is this a comment
about the Second Coming? Is it about the best time to pray together?
Would it make any difference to you to know that Billy O'Quinn, besides
being a pastor, is my flight instructor? Would it help you to know that
I needed 1.5 hours of night flying to fulfill the FAA licensing
requirements and Billy's question was "When are we flying on
Tuesday?" Before we can understand the meaning of what someone is
saying we must understand the context in which it was said.
We need the same kind of awareness of context when we approach
Scripture. There are different types, or genera, of literature in the
Bible. There is law, there is narrative (stories), there is wisdom
literature like in Proverbs, there are song lyrics, there are Gospels
and there are letters, like I Corinthians. I hope that, from my flying
example, you can see that letters- the fancy name is epistles- are the
most context sensitive of all Biblical writings. It is terrifically
important when reading someone else's mail to know as much detail as
possible about who was writing to whom about what. What were their
issues then? We must know that before we can hope to apply the text
to ourselves and let it transform us.
A note on reading Paul's letters… Reading epistles could be considered
rude in many homes. Why? Because we are reading mail addressed to other
people and not to us. So how can we read I Corinthians without rudeness
and read them for our spiritual growth? How applicable are they to us?
Well, it seems that rather than being intended only to the people the
letters were addressed to, there are indications that they were intended
to be re-read. The clearest example of this is in Colossians 4:16,
"When this letter is read among you, have it read by the church in
Laodicea; and you read their letters." A lot of time and effort
were expended writing and delivering letters in the Roman world. Pens
and something to write on were hard to come by. Only 5 to 10% of the
people in Paul's world could read. Horses, human feet and small wooden
boats moved the letters. It took quite a while. Paul wrote with his
reader and his re-readers in mind. And by the Holy Spirit they are our
letters as well.
Our passage of Scripture Paul starts with, "Now about the questions
in your letter to me…" What were those questions? We don't have
them but there are clear clues.
First, the questions came from the Corinthian church. These were mostly
Greek people. Greek beliefs and practices were creeping into the church.
They were boasting about which school of thought and teacher was best.
They were dragging each other to court and before heathen judges. Their
behavior at Communion was awful. And they were arguing about marriage.
They were raised in a world of Greek thought and philosophy. With a
Greek view that flesh is evil (Plato- "the body is the prison house
of the soul"), some teachers in the Greek church were likely
discouraging marriage, discouraging sex in marriage and encouraging
divorcing a heathen mate when one became a Christian. So, as modern
confused individuals call in to radio host Dr. Laura or writing Dr. Abby
for advice so the Corinthians were getting advice from Paul.
The second big context clue we read in verses 29-31. The Church and Paul
fully expected the Lord to return in next few weeks. Well, really soon.
"The time is near." In that light, doesn't it make sense that
Paul's advice was to not make any big changes. So you are not married-
why bother with marrying at a time like this. So you are a slave- hold
on, Jesus is coming! So we need to keep this in mind when we read.
Paul's more mature teaching on marriage is found in Ephesians chapter 5
where the marriage relationship is seen as a picture of the relationship
between Christ and His Church.
So, Paul here answers six questions about marriage. First. Are married
people to continue normal sexual relations after conversion? Yes. Praise
God. Second. Should single people marry? Paul prefers the single life
but yes they may marry. Third. Is divorce between Christians
permissible? Basically no. A hard teaching we tend to ignore. Fourth.
What about divorcing a pagan spouse? The Christian is to stick with it
unless the unbelieving partner wants to go. Fifth. This one is not so
clear but probably- Should engaged people marry? They may but Paul sees
hard times and the soon return of Christ. And sixth. May widows get
married again? Basically yes.
As you can see, these are thorny issues and unfortunately we do not have
time to deal with all of them. And they are particularly applicable to
us right now. Marriage is under fire from the world, inside and outside
the church. Just look at all of the jokes about it. "Love is blind-
marriage is the eye-opener." "She didn't want to marry him for
his money but it was the only way she could get it." The Earl of
Shaftesbury once said, "If the Pope had been married, he would soon
discover that he was not infallible".
Divorce is epidemic and it too is being taken lightly. Again the jokes.
A woman said to her marriage counselor, "I married looking for an
idea. Instead I got an ordeal and now I want a new deal." We are
beginning to see the personal and societal price paid for them. Paul has
some interesting and hard things to say about divorce here but we'll not
look at them today.
I decided to concentrate on the first few verses because they are more
foundational. They imply God's intentions for marriage. Just under the
surface of Paul's end time thinking is a strong theology of marriage. In
verse 10 and 11 Paul strongly commands, in the Lord's name, married
people not to separate. This mirrors Jesus words in Matthew 19- "A
man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the
two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one. Therefore
what God has joined together let no one separate."
I was just in the Critical Care Unit yesterday to visit a friend who had
been in an accident. She divorced her husband some years ago while I was
doing youth ministry. Her kids and I are very close. After the divorce
she was different. It was like the piece of herself she gave away to her
first husband was gone. It looks like it may happen again. Instead of
being the strong, solid wife and mother I knew, I visited a lost little
girl. This is, admittedly, one particular and one particularly bad case.
But I still believe that something fundamental is lost when we break
fundamental bonds and we are deeply hurt. There is grace. God can and
does heal. You may even be driven closer to God but it is a terrible
road.
In Genesis, when God let humanity in on his plan for marriage. It was a
positive plan and a plan for fulfillment. Paul was too great an Old
Testament scholar and loved Jesus too much to not have this plan in mind
when he advised his Greek Christian friends in Corinth. Each man should
have his own wife and each woman her own husband. What is
behind this is Genesis. "The two shall become one flesh." For
life. A lover. A confidant. A friend. Someone committed to you through
it all. Indissoluble. One flesh.
In Genesis 2 God said, "It is not good for the man to be
alone." Paul, unless he was quoting the Corinthians, just said,
"It is good for a man not to marry." Is Paul contradicting
God's intent? Again context. Keeping in mind that Paul expected the
Second Coming right away- we see that this is a special case. The rest
of Paul's underlying thought reflects God's good plan for marriage. Paul
even says that the two are so much one that their bodies belong to each
other and not just themselves. The woman's to the man and the man's to
the woman. Whoa! Where did Paul get that?
Again, if you go to Genesis 2 you see this. The Lord God said, "I
will make a helper suitable for him." Weak translation. It sounds
like God is making a janitor or a maid that will suit his needs. The
Hebrew word for 'helper' is ayzer, which means helper in the sense of
rescuer. There is different Hebrew word for janitor. The man was rescued
from a fundamental loneliness that existed even in Paradise. The Hebrew
word for 'suitable' is neged which means 'corresponding to". It
means she is his counterpart. It means one like him. They are a team.
That's why Paul emphasized your own spouse. And why he could say
we have a claim on each other. What a great plan!
How do we apply this? This plan was instituted before the Fall and now
marriage is hard. It takes work to 1) see that this is God's good plan
for you; 2) to keep tied the ties that bind married couples because we
are damaged by the Fall; and 3) not give in to the world's increasing
rejection of God's plan for us in marriage. The applications here are
many but critically important. In my view the most important is to
guard, protect and grow your relationship with your spouse. If you are
single, remember that Paul gave singleness a great dignity here. Being
single is not somehow evil. Some, like Paul, are called to it and find
great freedom to serve God.
My advice is to work and learn. Go to retreats and seminars. Work a
little less and be together a little more. There is no such thing as
quality time. It is quantity time that brings the quality. See your work
as funding your marriage instead of the marriage supporting your career.
Take a class on strengthening your marriage. Join a men's group where we
talk about these things and hold each other accountable. Let's get
something together for women. Or let's establish a mentoring ministry
for couples. Or join me and Sue on November 10 for the "I Still
Do" One-Day Conference for couples at the Rose Garden Arena in
Portland. Let's get equipped. How can a couple survive in an
anti-marriage culture? Integrate a personal relationship with Jesus
Christ into an intimate relationship with each other. St. Augustine said
that marriage is a trinity: husband, wife and Holy Spirit. His quote was
written on Sue's and my wedding program. Ecclesiastes says, "A cord
of three strands is not quickly broken."
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